Clothes-drying machine.



1 l $.11. DANE.

1111111111111 PEB. 11, 1908.

4CLOTHES DRYING MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED DEG.S,190G. 1 s sHBBTs-SHEET 1.

awww-@ws No. 878,777, PTENTED FEB. ll, 1908. S. B. DANE.

CLOTHFS DRYING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DBG`6,1906. Y

s SHEETS-SHEET 2.

7 PATENTE-PEB. 11, 1908. s. B. DANE. GLUTHBS DRYING MAQHINE.

APPLI T o f LED E. lon.

0A N I' D C 6 9 MEETS- SHEET s.

SIDNEY B. DANE,y F LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

CLOTHES-DRYNG- MACHINE.V

specification er Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 11, 1908.

pplcation lerl December 6, 1906. Serial No. 346.533

. Lynn, inv the county ot' Essex and State of illaseachneetts, have .invented cert-ain new and nserol improvements in Clothfes-Drying` .l/iachinee; and l do hereby declare thel foln lowing to be a 'in-ll, clear, and exact descrip tion of il' e invention, such as will enable othere lied in the art to which it appertains to .malle and use the saine.

'lfl'ie present invention relates te clothes drying machines. llt become the practioe in seine .localities to send to peoplee residences and get their Weeke wash in the morning; of certain day, to take 'it to the laundry, wasn it, to pnt it through the extraetor, and to return the clothes dani) to the residence, This method has secured the vcomplete :se'negation of each wash from every other wash, soA that the clothes from one house are never confused with the 'elo les trein another, nor there any necessity .r the ytedious 'marking or sorting;i the elothes in a damp condition their in mediate hanging; ont for g, ae, ii. they were to stand in a wet oondition, they would beeoine sour or pee sibly mildew. 'io eliminate, therefore, the

o necessity drying' clothes after their .return the r jidonee, the applicant has `produced e in which clothes may be rapidly o that they may be returned dry to residentie, and also in which aunnnber of waahes ine. f lbe dried at one time and en tir-ely separate from each other.

it should noted that it is imperative, in order to do this worh as economically asis demanded. by trade conditions, that the dryingl he done with extreme expedition, as other` "f the cost of drying; would be too i permit of rsiioceesliul eoinpot'ition I .Wet method. `'lhis requirement den'iamis for its accomplishment the use of a large bodyof air and the loosening* of the clothes, and the exposure thereof to such air, lont subject to the limitation that the cnrrent et air moet not he of sufficient force to hold. the clothes suspended therein.

' To the above end the present invention consists in the clot-hes drier' hereinafter de ecribed and particularly defined in the elain in theaooornp anying drawings illustrating kopt into the compartments.

The principal .part oi the apparatns ie the drier proper, indicated generally by the reference character l.' A blower 2 drives a cnrrent of air through the drier l, which. air, be lore it enters the blower, is heated in thi?J heater 3.

The heater consists ot' any convenient device for heating the air, and in the present embodiment comprises a' box lilled with steam pipes through which the air from out of doors passes to the blower 2, by which it is drawn thronglfi the heater and forced into the drier proper, l. The blower is driven by a belt troni a counter-shaft.

The drier l consists oi a rotating drum 4f, seen best in Fig. 4, which is mounted on trunnions 5 and 6. The cylindrieal part of the drinn 4l is made oi Wood. rlhe righthand'end or head 7 of the drinn is secured to the cylindrical portieri. The other end of the drum is open, The air enters thronvh the open end and passes ont through t e holes' in the head 7. 'lllie open end Iof the drum is closed by a stationary head 9 Whieh is made ol. Wood and provided on the right-- hand side with a door lll, through which the operation of the apparatus may be observed. This head is provided with an opening 1l through which the heatedv air from the bloweris discharged into the drinn.

The"l drinn is divided. into a nuniber of compartments, which are made byvproviding a series .of wire screen diaphragme 12 which extend completely across the drum and. separate it into a series of compartlrients, each of which is adapted to receive one Wash. Tag holders 15 are provided which correspond in position to each cornpartinent. These tag holders are clips secured 'upon the drum over each compartment, and when a Wash is placed in a drum its tag is placed in the tag holder, then, when the Wash is taken out, its tag is attached to the hamper in which it 4is placed. In the illustrated. embodiment there. are shown six such compartments, and for each. tvvo comY partnientsa door 13 isprovided which opens I y These doors are normally hele` closed by latches and i'orln a continuation of the cylindrical surface of the drum, so that the inner side of the drum is a continuous cylindrical surface except for a series of lifting boards 14 which project radially inward from the cylindrical wall. When the drum is rotated these lifting boards engage and lift the clothes up toward the top and allow them to fall from the top to the bottom through the current of air passing through the drum. The drum isy rotated by means ci a belt from a countershait. ln order to introduce the air .into the drum in such a way as to cause it to flow -from end to end thereof and to obtain the best results, it is introduced at one side of the center and on the risin side of the drum. Thus the air current irough the drum. enters the opening 11 and passes lon itudinally through the drum and vemerges through the openings 8 in the fixed head. lt is necessary that the drum be of considerable size in order that the falling clothes lwill have a considerable dis tance to pass through the air and therefore the machine which the applicant has constructed is made with the drum about eight feet in diameter. lt might be supposed that by decreasing the size oi' the drum and increasing the pressure oi the air, an equal amount of air could be brought into contact with the clothes, but this is not so, for in such construction the current of air would be so strong that it would hold the clothes against the screen diaphragme and prevent their agitation and the exposure of all the clothes to the iniluence of the drying air.

Therefore it if necessary that the Adrum be of such size with relation to the amount of airu passing through it that the clothes will not be held against the screens by such current of air but will be permitted to fall through the current of air. This provides ior the exposure of all the pieces oi" clothes to the drying action of the air. 1t should be under stood, therefore, that the drinn must be of rsuch size with relation to the amount of air forced through it that the air will not hold ,the clothes against the diaphragme. The

distribution of the holes in the 'lined head of 'the driercauses a corresponding distribution 'of Vthe air current Within the drum.

The apparatus is used as follows: AThe drum bemgbrought to rest with the doors V13 in the position illustrated in Fig. 1, vthe doors are o ened and into each compartment a Wash is placed. The wash isplace'd in this compartment just at it, comes from the extractor, with the clothes still packed together as'a result of the'operation thereof, so that thls apparatus not only servesl to dry the clothes, but alsp serves to/loosen them up and eliminate the use of the tumbler. Then the doors are closed and locked, the drum is set in motion, and the blower is started. ln

' the course oi a short time (with this appara-4 tus labout twenty minutes), the clothesare I quite dried, the blower is stopped, and the l drum brought to rest, thp doors are opened and the clothes are removed, each Wash being kept by itself without confusion with others. A

This invention is not limited to the coni struction illustrated and described herein, l but m be embodied in other forms within the scope of the Jfollowing claims combination, a drum mounted to rotate upon ahorizontal axis having one of its ends open, a stationary head locatedadjacent to the open end of the drum, and means Jfor introducing a blast ci airthrough the stav tionary head located in such position with relation to the direction of rotation of the drum that the air enters on the rising side oi the drum so as to cause the air to pass across the path ci' motion of the falling 35 clothes lifted up by the drum, substantially as described. f

2. A clothes drying machine having, in combination, a drum mounted to rotate l upon a h'brizontal axis rovided upon its 9o interior With means for iftin'g the clothes introduced into the drum and ermitting them to fall ironrthe top to tie bottom p thereof, and means for introducing a blast oi air into the drum opposite the fallingre clothes, substantially as described.

3. A clothes drying machine having, in combination, a=drum`supported to rotate upon a hurizontal axis provided-With a series of screen diaphragme arranged transversely 10o of the drum and separating it into a plurality oi' compartments, means for introducing a blast or air at one end of thedrum, the periphery of the drum being provided with doors permitting access to the vcompartments, substantially as described. i

4. A clothes drying machine having, in combination, a drum sup orted to rotate upon a horizontal airis, a p urality of screen diaphragms each of 'the full size of the inside 110 oi the drum and dividing it into separate compartments arranged transversely `of the drum, the inside of' the peripheral walls' of the drum being provided with a plurality of lifting boards for lifting the clothes from the bottom ci the drum and permitting them to iall through the air therein, and means for introducing a vblast of air at one end of the drum and on the rising side of the drum, so that the 'falling 'clothes )ass through the 120 incoming blast of air, substantially as described.

5. A Iclothes drying machine having, inl combination, a drumA supported to rotate upon a horizontal axis and provided with a series of screen diaphragms dividing it into a plurality 01E-compartments, the inner Wall oi the drum being provided in each compartment with lifting boards for lifting clothes l up from the bottom. ci the drum,` such iting 130 l. A, clothes drying machine having, in 75 5 ment, and means for-introducing e blast of Witnesses:

l boards in the. different com ertments being In testimony whereof I LHx my signature,

arranged in different angu er positions so in presence of two Witnesses. that each Compartment drops its clothes at e different `time 'from the, adjacent eompelt-` SIDNEY B' ANE air et one end of-the drum on the rising side VHORACE VAN EVEREN, vof the drum, substantlally es Ideserlbeol. FARNUM F. DQRSEY. 

